SEOUL, May 30 (Yonhap) — A South Korean provincial government on Wednesday put the official land value of Dokdo, a pair of rocky islets in the East Sea, at 5.93 billion won (US$5.49 million) as of Jan. 1, 2018, up 9.17 percent from a year ago. The land price...

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with details; CHANGES headline, dateline; ADDS photo) SEOUL/TOKYO, May 15 (Yonhap) — South Korea urged Japan on Tuesday to retract its repeated territorial claim over Dokdo, a pair of rocky outcroppings in the East Sea, saying it will only impede efforts to move forward bilateral ties....

ANDONG, May 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The government of North Gyeongsang Province will hold a contest aimed at “creating a new culture on Dokdo” to help discover and promote new business ventures associated with the islets. The province announced plans yesterday to identify new ideas in two categories: cultural products and...

Japan has protested South Korea’s move to put dessert with a decoration featuring Dokdo on the table for the dinner planned for the upcoming historic inter-Korean summit, a local media reported Wednesday. According to Japan’s broadcaster NHK, Kenji Kanasugi, the Japanese foreign ministry’s director-general of Asian and Oceania affairs,...

A flower design of the Korean Peninsula took shape in Seoul Plaza directly in front of Seoul City Hall on Apr. 13. The white flowers are arranged in the shape of the Peninsula, and include Jeju, Ulleung, and Dokdo Islands. The design reflects the country’s hope for a successful...

With the new teaching guidelines, announced in the Japanese government’s official gazette on Friday, Tokyo has created a legal basis to teach false and distorted information to its future generations. Publishers of school textbooks in Japan are now required by law to refer to Dokdo as Japanese territory. The...

Anchor: South Korea condemned Japan’s revised curriculum guideline, which makes it mandatory for high schools to teach students that the Dokdo islets are Japanese territory. The Foreign Ministry summoned the Japanese ambassador to Seoul to lodge a complaint. Kim In-kyung has this report. Report: South Korea has denounced Japan’s move...

SEOUL, March 30 (Yonhap) — South Korea voiced strong protest with Japan for claiming its sovereignty over Dokdo in guidelines it endorsed on Friday for use in writing high school textbooks. “The government strongly condemns Japan for adopting the guidelines that contain its inappropriate argument about Dokdo and call...

South Korean Education Minister Kim Sang-kon has urged his Japanese counterpart to correct Japan’s new high school textbook teaching guidelines aimed at strengthening sovereignty claims over South Korea’s Dokdo islets. Seoul’s Education Ministry said Kim sat down with Japanese Education Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi ahead of the second trilateral Korea-Japan-China...

President Moon Jae-in strongly urged Japan on Thursday to sincerely reflect on its past wrongdoings and apologize for them. “In resolving the issue of sexual slaves, the Japanese government, the perpetrator, must not say it is ‘over,’” Moon said during a speech marking the March 1, 1919, Korean resistance...

President Moon Jae-in has urged Japan to cease its territorial claim to South Korea’s eastern-most island of Dokdo, stressing that Tokyo’s denial of the fact is “the same as its refusal to reflect on its imperial invasion (of Korea).” He made the remarks in a speech to a ceremony at...

North Korean cheerleaders wave unification flags showing the eastern islets of South Korea during Team Korea’s ice hockey game against Sweden at the Gwandong Ice Hockey Center in Gangneung, Monday. / Yonhap North Korean cheerleaders during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics / Korea Times photo by Shim...

Just two days ahead of the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics, the “PyeongChang Dessert,” also called “a dish of hope,” became the center of attention online Wednesday. The dessert is to be served at the Olympic opening ceremony reception dinner for South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his...

South Korea on Monday voiced a strong protest over Japan’s renewed territorial claims to its easternmost islets of Dokdo and demanded their immediate withdrawal. “We express our deep regrets over Japan’s unjustifiable claims to Dokdo again,” the foreign ministry said in a spokesman’s commentary. “The Japanese government should stop...

By Park Si-soo Nearly 1,200 foreigners are “living” on the easternmost Dokdo island, according to data released on Sunday. The foreigners are among 36,000 “honorary residents” recognized by the Dokdo management office on Ulleung Island, an inhabited island west of Dokdo. They do not actually live there, but are...

Korea celebrates Dokdo Day today, to promote understanding about one of its most treasured territories. The festivities put on by civic groups and local governments, however, come after a series of strong claims by neighboring Japan over the islets. Meeyeon Ahn explains the history of Dokdo Day and...

The Marine Corps is known to be planning to establish a Strategic Islands Defense Command and also a military unit on Ulleung Island for the defense of the Dokdo islets. The Marine Corps announced the plan Thursday during a briefing to parliament during the National Assembly’s inspections of government offices. Under...

Kim Ha-na A Korean-Canadian librarian has been named a winner of the Korean Canadian Heritage Award for promoting Korea’s sovereignty over its easternmost islets of Dokdo. The Korean Canadian Heritage Award Committee said Wednesday that Kim Ha-na, 41, the director at the University of Toronto’s Cheng Yu Tung East...

International students hold up doves to promote peace during a summit held at Dokdo Island, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Education Ministry By You Soo-sun International students in Korea participated in a summit at the country’s easternmost territory of Dokdo, Tuesday. At the event, organized by the education ministry, 163...

Marines conduct an exercise in the sea off Ulleung Island in the East Sea, Sunday. More than 90 Marines are participating in the month-long drills that kicked off last week. The drills are aimed to defend the island and Dokdo, the country’s easternmost islets. The biggest number of Marines...

A Japanese historian will publish a Korean book containing ample historic evidence justifying South Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo Island in the East Sea. “Truth of Dokdo” is a Korean translation of Norio Kuboi’s book of the same title published in Japanese in 2014. Dr. Lee Jang-woo, a Japanese teacher...

SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Yonhap) — A Japanese state textbook shows that the country hadn’t laid a territorial claim to Dokdo, a group of small islets in the East Sea, at least until in the late 19th century, in the latest piece of evidence that gives an upper hand to...

Dokdo islands. AFP file photo SEOUL: A 19th-century Korean map which marks Dokdo as part of Korean territory was recently found in Japan, scholars from both countries said Tuesday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. Nam Kwon-hee, a professor at Kyungpook National University, said he confirmed the existence of what...

VANK chief stresses proactive promotion of Korean history Posted : 2017-07-24 17:36 Updated : 2017-07-24 19:21 Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) founder Park Gi-tae, center, poses with Korean language teachers from around the world after his special lecture on Korean history at the global campus of Hankuk University of Foreign...

The North Gyeongsang provincial government is inviting foreign teachers in Korea to Dokdo, to enhance their understanding of the history of the country’s easternmost islets. Three groups of 180 foreigners teaching languages at primary or secondary schools across the country will be given an invitation. Over the course of...

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart agreed on the need to cooperate in North Korean issues in a telephone conversation, Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday. Kang and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida spoke over the phone, during which the Japanese top diplomat congratulated...

South Korea voiced strong protests Wednesday against Japan’s latest claims to its easternmost islets of Dokdo in an education manual. The foreign ministry also said that it called in Katsuro Kitagawa, a minister for political affairs at the Japanese embassy, to lodge complaints about what it sees as “repeated”...

Korea’s Navy announced Thursday that it will conduct a two-day exercise this week as part of efforts to defend the Dokdo islets from possible aggression by “outside forces,” the Navy said. It was apparently referring to Japan, which claims sovereignty over the Seoul-controlled islets in the East Sea. This...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet with a special envoy of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe next week, officials said Friday. Toshihiro Nikai, a lawmaker and secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, will make a courtesy call on Moon at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on...

Kyodo News reports the Japanese government has posted a notice on embassy websites requesting any information about the use of the titles “Dokdo” and “East Sea.” Both are Korean names for the islets and body of water between South Korea and Japan. Tokyo refuses to recognize those titles as...

(ATTN:UPDATES 5th para with summons) SEOUL/TOKYO, April 25 (Yonhap) — South Korea expressed a “strong complaint” Tuesday after Japan renewed its territorial claim to the South Korean islets of Dokdo in its latest diplomatic policy report submitted to the cabinet. Earlier in the day, Japan claimed in the 2017...

Japan laid claim to South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo again on Tuesday, raising worries that it could deepen diplomatic friction between the two neighboring countries. Earlier in the day, Japan’s defense ministry released a white paper in which it referred to Dokdo along with Kuril Islands as its...

Japanese document provides evidence of Korea’s right to islets Mar 28,2016 A Japanese parliamentary document was discovered that disproves its government’s official claim that Korea illegally occupied the Dokdo islets in the East Sea through the Syngman Rhee administration’s “Peace Line” of 1952. Yuji Hosaka, head of the Dokdo...

SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) — In an unprecedented provocation, all of Japan’s overseas missions are uniformly conducting public relations campaigns to claim South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, officials here said Tuesday, indicating that a countermove by Seoul is under way. “All of Japan’s overseas diplomatic missions are in...

The Japanese government placed an advert in the Yomiuri and Tokyo dailies on Tuesday claiming sovereignty over Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo. This is the first time it has advertised the dubious claim in the papers. The advert will run successively in 70 Japanese newspapers for a week, including...

S. Korea to send back Japan PM’s letter over Dokdo Thursday SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) — South Korea will send back Thursday the protest letter Japan’s prime minister wrote to President Lee Myung-bak over his visit to the easternmost South Korean islets of Dokdo, Seoul’s foreign ministry said. Foreign...

S. Korea to step up global PR campaign for Dokdo to counter Japan’s claim SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) — South Korea plans to step up a public relations drive worldwide for its easternmost islets of Dokdo to help counter Japan’s territorial claim to the volcanic outcroppings in a sea...

S. Korea vows ‘stern measures’ against Japan over Dokdo SEOUL/TOKYO, Aug. 17 (Yonhap) — South Korea vowed to take “stern measures” on Friday unless Japan withdraws its proposal to take the issue of Dokdo, Seoul’s easternmost islets claimed by Tokyo as its territory, to the International Court of Justice...

In commemoration of Korea’s Independence Day on August 15th, singer Kim Jang-hoon and actor Song Il-gook will be showing off their swimming skills. This Wednesday marks the anniversary of Korea’s independence from Japan’s colonial rule. In honor of this, along with making a statement that the Dokdo Islets belong...

A South Korean football player missed the ceremony to pick up his bronze medal Saturday, after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instructed South Korea to keep him away for his political act after South Korea’s win over Japan. (Yonhap) Midfielder Park Jong-woo didn’t stand on the podium with his...

President Lee Myung-bak on Sunday is known to have called his surprise visit to Dokdo Friday “a provincial tour” for him. He said this in a dinner with writer Kim Ju-yeong, writer Lee Moon-yeol and presidential chief of staff Ha Keum-yeol after going to Dokdo, adding that Japan`s critical...

By Kim Eun-jung SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s military has stepped up security in the East Sea on Friday, ahead of President Lee Myung-bak’s planned visit to the easternmost islets of Dokdo, military officials said. “The military increased the number of Air Force combat planes and Navy...

2012-8-2 SEOUL, July 31 (Yonhap) — South Korea summoned a senior Japanese diplomat on Tuesday and “strongly” protested Tokyo’s reiteration of its claim to Seoul’s easternmost islets of Dokdo in an annual defense paper released earlier in the day, officials said. Seoul’s foreign ministry said Japan’s Cabinet approved the...

2011-08-24 DOKDO, South Korea, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) — The Korea Basketball Association (KBA) on Wednesday hosted the first sports event on the country’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, with four high school teams playing three-on-three games. Players and KBA officials left nearby Ulleung Island on the East Sea around 8...

2011-08-16 SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) — South Korea voiced support on Tuesday for stationing troops on its easternmost islets of Dokdo, prompted by reinforced Japanese moves to lay claim to the volcanic outcroppings in the East Sea between the two nations. “We have no objection in principle to stationing...

2011-08-13 SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s ruling and opposition party leaders are set to visit the easternmost islets of Dokdo in a show of support for its sovereignty, party officials said Saturday, as the nation celebrates its liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, head...

2011-08-06 Let’s make a calculation now on the latest series of incidents involving Dokdo. Three Japanese lawmakers landed at Gimpo International Airport, claiming that they wanted to tour Ulleung Island, which is the nearest place to Dokdo. Korea denied them entry, citing immigration and customs law. The three lawmakers...

2011-07-05 SEOUL, July 5 (Yonhap) — A group of eight lawmakers visited South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo Tuesday, seeking to boost the morale of South Korean Coast Guard officers stationed there in the face of Japan’s constant territorial claims. While in the East Sea islets, the lawmakers —...

Kim Jang-hoon Gives Concert on Dokdo Isle Singer Kim Jang-hoon gave a patriotic concert on Dokdo on Tuesday, which was March 1 Independence Movement Day. Kim said he has been planning the concert to assert Korea’s sovereignty over the islets for two years. He attempted to land on Dokdo...

Seoul Plaza is unusually crowded for this early hour, filled with some 300 people including members from a civilian diplomatic group called VANK, volunteers, experts on Dokdo, and a horde of reporters. “VANK! V-Squad!” “Bus No. 9! Bus No. 9!” [Interview : Im...

Pop singer Kim Jang-hoon will hold a Dokdo festival aboard a cruise ship in the East Sea on Feb. 28, along with self-styled Korea promoter Seo Kyoung-duk. The two celebrities will invite about 300 people to the ship, which will be anchored between the two Dokdo islets to stage...

A Korean police officer who went missing on the nations easternmost islets of Dokdo while on duty was found dead yesterday, police said. The 30-year-old officer, identified only as Lee, was found around 10 a.m. at the bottom of a cliff, they said. He began his guard duty early...

Some 30 animal and plant species previously not known to exist there have been found in the Dokdo islets. The Environment Ministry on Tuesday said it monitored the ecosystem on Dokdo on three occasions between April and October last year and found a total of 237 species — 51...

By Na Jeong-ju Staff Reporter Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso arrived in Seoul Sunday for a summit today with President Lee Myung-bak that will focus on boosting economic cooperation and discussing ways of encouraging North Korea’s denuclearization.. Aso was accompanied by Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the Japan Business Federation,...

By Kim Rahn Staff Reporter A Japanese government document dating from 1951 shows that Japan excluded Dokdo from its territory apparently negating on Japan’s claim that it has long-recognized the islets as Japanese. The Korea Maritime Institute said Saturday that it discovered a Japanese document that excluded the islets...

Seoul has belatedly protested against a PR website maintained by the Japanese Foreign Ministry that Korea’s Dokdo Islets are Japanese territory. The Foreign Ministry on Sunday said it launched a “vehement protest” against the pages, titled “10 points for understanding Takeshima” — the Japanese name for the islets —...

Japan`s Foreign Ministry is distributing a pamphlet in 10 languages claiming the Dokdo islets through its diplomatic and consular offices. Japan`s top daily Yomiuri Shimbun said Saturday that the ministry in February last year distributed 23,500 copies of the pamphlet “Ten Issues of Takeshima” in English, Korean and Japanese....

By Michael Ha Staff Reporter A non-profit group that has been a vocal advocate of Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo islets said its Web site has become the target of cyber attacks from Japan. The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) said Tuesday that its computer servers were temporarily shut...

A Russian expert has affirmed Korea’s claim to the Dokdo islets at a forum among Russian educators. Valery Glushkov, the deputy director of Russias Institute of the History of Sciences and Technology, said in a forum at the Russian Academy of Education that Russian historical documents clearly support Koreas...

By Michael Ha Staff Reporter A Japanese scholar reiterated Tuesday that it would be impossible for the Japanese to refute Korea’s demand that Japan withdraw its claim on the Dokdo islets. Haruki Wada, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, made the remarks at an international conference on...

A transport helicopter carrying a Dong-A Ilbo reporter reached an Air Force radar station in the Nari Basin on Ulleung Island two hours after taking off from Osan, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Since its establishment in July 2001, the station located in the easternmost part of the Korean mainland has...

A group of lawmakers who belong to the National Assembly’s special committee on Dokdo will visit the islets today. Rep. Won Yoo-chul, chairman of the committee, said they are scheduled to inspect the security facilities and a museum there. “The purpose of our visit is to raise public awareness...

The Dokdo islets have been at the center of diplomatic disputes between Korea and Japan due to their rich fishing grounds and strategic location. Now for the first time international journalists were invited by North Gyeongsang Province to visit the islets in the East Sea. The chance of actually...

A research institute dedicated to studies on the Dokdo islets has launched operations. The East Sea Research Institute held its opening ceremony Thursday in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province. The institute will conduct in-depth studies on the Dokdo islets and ocean resources in the East Sea. It will also study...

Japan’s approved textbook guidelines, made public in July, describe Koreas Dokdo islets as “illegally occupied by Korea,” but Japanese territory in terms of history and international law.” The description, formally requested by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, will be repeated in approved high school textbooks...

The Bank of Korea (BOK) is considering other designs for 100-thousand won bills instead of the Daedongyeojido, a Joseon Dynasty map of the Korean Peninsula. The central bank originally planned to use the map by Kim Jeong-ho and the Bangudae Petroglyphs in Ulsan for designs for the back side...

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has issued the location identifier RKDD to the helicopter landing zone in the Dokdo islets. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority under the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said that a location identifier represents the name and location of an airport and...

SEOUL, Oct. 6 Asia Pulse – South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Monday his administration won’t yield to Japan under any circumstances as far as the territorial ownership of Dokdo is concerned. “I’m determined not to make any concession regarding the territorial ownership of Dokdo,” Lee said while meeting...

An ancient French map confirms that the disputed Dokdo islets belong to Korea. The Venerable Jeonggak, abbot of the Jogye Order’s Wongak Temple in Goyang city, disclosed a map of China Thursday produced by French geographer J.B.B. D’Anville in 1732. The map which also shows Korea, Japan and Russia...

A diplomatic row between South Korea and Japan flared up again yesterday after Tokyo renewed its claim to disputed islands in a new defence policy document. The islands midway between the two countries, called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, have for decades been a flashpoint in relations....

The New York Times says the voyage to the Dokdo islets has become a popular pilgrimage among South Koreans. The U.S. daily said Sunday that hundreds of South Koreans make the seven-hour journey by sea to the islets despite the possibility that only a little more than half of...

I was told when my family and I moved into a house we are renting here in Seoul that it was kind of an older house. I wondered how old, imagining it would be one of those traditional kinds with the sloping roofs and sliding, paper doors. I mean,...

Koreans in the Washington, D.C. area are distributing ‘Dokdo stickers’ they made to promote Korean ownership of the rocky islets. This comes at a time when Dokdo commercials are also airing on American television. An alliance to protect Dokdo, comprised of Korean residents in D.C., Virginia and Maryland, have...

SEOUL, Aug 21 (Reuters) – A unit of Korea Electric Power Corp (015760.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) will build a 2.5 billion won ($2.38 million) solar power plant on Dokdo, a cluster of rocks in the East Sea at the centre of a diplomatic dispute between South Korea and Japan....

The number of visitors to a section on Dokdo on the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s website has rapidly increased recently, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Tuesday quoting ministry statistics. The Japanese government is stressing its claim to the Korean islets by posting a controversial document entitled “10 Issues of Takeshima” in...

North Korea warns Japan of irrevocable, catastrophic consequences if it continues its territorial claims over the Dokdo islets in the East Sea. Rodong Sinmun, the official daily of the North Korean Workers Party, accused Japanese imperialists of trying to intensify disputes between the two countries before plotting an eventual...

Seoul, Aug 8 (Prensa Latina) South Korea will build a solar power plant on the Dokdo islets, located in the Sea of Japan and demanded by Tokyo. According to a report quoted by the Korea Herald, the government is planning to build a 50-kilowatt facility starting next month on...

World-renowned National Geographic describes the Dokdo islets as Dokdo (Take Shima, Liancourt Rocks) on its world map. It states Dokdo first and puts behind Takeshima and Liancourt Rocks in parentheses, showing a clear difference with maps published by the U.S. government or U.S. Army, which put Liancourt Rocks ahead...

Foreign students in Busan have paid a visit to Dokdo, amid renewed diplomatic activity to head off challenges to Koreas sovereignty over its easternmost islets. Some 60 students from nine countries including China and India who are attending universities in the southeastern port city were invited to the islets...

South Korea expressed concern on July 27,2008 over a recent U.S. decision to rename its easternmost islets of Dokdo in favor of Japan and ordered its embassy in Washington to check how it happened. Public anger has risen in South Korea over Japan’s renewed territorial claim to Dokdo in...

It was confirmed Saturday that the United States Board of Geographic Names (BGN) categorized Liancourt Rocks, which the country uses as the official name of Dokdo, the controversial islets between Korea and Japan, under “Undesignated Sovereignty.” If Liancourt Rocks is typed in foreign territories search in the BGN homepage...

Korea Dokdo Research Center under the Korea Maritime Institute said Wednesday that it has published a 15-page booklet titled “Dokdo Is Korean Territory” in four languages Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese. It is the latest in a series of state-level measures against Japan’s recent inscription of the islets as...

SEOUL, July 20 (UPI) — South Korea is moving to set up permanent habitations on the remote Dokdo Islets to bolster its territorial claims there, officials said Sunday. Government policymakers said they have agreed to send a research team to the islets, located 134 miles from the port of...

In a bid to protect South Koreas sovereignty over the Dokdo islets, the government and the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) decided to actively enhance habitability of the islets by, for example, building a marine hotel. They also decided to rebuild the communication network with North Korea in the...

The U.S. Library of Congress has put off a meeting to discuss changing the name of South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, also claimed by Japan, to that of a French whaling ship that first introduced the islets to Europe. The library had been scheduled to hold a meeting...

The Lee administration yesterday warned Japan not to claim sovereignty over the Dokdo islets, saying, Based on history, geography and international law, Dokdo is part of Koreas sovereign territory. The latest comment was a response to Japans move to claim jurisdiction over the islets in middle school textbooks. Presidential...

A popular Korean singer financed a full-page advertisement on Dokdo two tiny islets in the East Sea in The New York Times to reaffirm the islets are a part of Korean territory. The vocalist Kim Jang-hoon, 41, teamed up with a freelance Korean public relations expert Seo Kyoung-duk to...

By Lee Chi-dong SEOUL, June 2 (Yonhap) — Tokyo could jeopardize the hard-won resumption of shuttle diplomacy between the leaders of South Korea and Japan if it continues an outright campaign to lay claim to Dokdo, a set of rocky islets in the East Sea, a Seoul government official...

Korea and Japan are both preparing to have the geographical names of disputed areas internationally recognized in their own language next year. From as early as next year, the decision making process of the International Hydrographic Organizations Sub-Committee on Undersea Feature Names (SCUFN) will be changed from unanimous call...

SEOUL, May 20 (Yonhap) — South Korean teachers on Wednesday called for an apology from Japan over its new educational campaign to claim Dokdo, a cluster of islets governed by Korea. “The move by the Japanese government to asert its territorial claim to Dokdo in the curriculum handbook for...

Presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said May 19 that President Lee Myung-bak has directed Korea’s foreign minister to “strongly demand a correction of Japan’s policy, if the reports that Japan has decided to describe Dokdo as Japanese territory in Japanese middle school textbooks is confirmed.” Yoo Myung-hwan, South Korea’s foreign...

President Lee Myung-bak yesterday ordered a confirmation of a report saying Japan plans to use junior high school textbooks to reinforce its sovereignty over the Dokdo islets. The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported Sunday that Japans Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry will revise social studies textbooks for...

The spread of groundless rumors and exaggerated facts through Web portals has amplified public angst over controversial issues. Many of the groundless scare stories successfully make a provocative emotional appeal to Web users, often putting a heavy burden on the new administration. Given the political hue of these stories,...

Amid heightened hopes of mending ties between Korea and Japan it seems a majority of Koreans believe there is more to be done to fully settle historical issues dividing the two sides. A survey conducted by Japanese TV network TBS on 500 citizens from both countries shows more than...

South Korea has lodged a strong complaint over Japan’s renewed campaign to lay claim to Dokdo, a cluster of South Korean islets in the East Sea, a government official said Tuesday. In February, Japan’s Foreign Ministry claimed on its Web site that Dokdo belongs to its territory both historically...

Koreas easternmost islands of Dokdo will offer their beautiful scenery to international viewers through TV programs, Gyeongsangbuk-do (Province) officials said Wednesday (Mar. 26). The provincial government said that it plans to promote the history, geography and natural resources of Dokdo and Ulleungdo, roughly 90 kilometers northwest of Dokdo, through...

The local government of Gyeongbuk-do (North Gyeongsang Province) announced Monday (Feb. 25) it is planning to launch a consultative body to link Dokdo research institutes scattered across the province. Dokdo, the rocky island that sits at the easternmost end of the Korean Peninsula is often claimed by Japan. Dokdo,...

Korean scientists have succeeded in mapping out the genes of a native microorganism found near the shore of Dokdo, a rocky island situated at the end of the Korean Peninsula. The Korean Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology announced Monday (Mar. 3) that it had succeeded in fully sequencing...

Professor from Japan discovers map proving Dokdo is Korean A former citizen of Japan and professor in Korea has come up with maps that back-up Koreas sovereignty over a rocky island that stands in the waters between Korea and Japan. Yuji Hosaka, 52, a naturalized Korean and professor of...

1. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. With the incoming government ready to launch in a few weeks, Koreans hold high expectations for a new Korea. Our government is expected to shift its focus from ideology to pragmatism. How will Korea change over the next five years? What...

Google Under Fire for Flawed Korea Maps Controversy has flared up as Google Earth, a satellite-image mapping service by Google, the world’s largest search engine, has erroneously described several South Korean locations. The controversial areas include Ongjin County under the jurisdiction of the city of Incheon, and some islands...

Korea’s one-man PR machine I identify myself as a freelance Korean public relations expert. My job\r\n is to make the country known to the rest of the world. January 15, 2008 Seo Kyoung-duk, 34, stands in front a projection of his ad claiming the territorial rights to Dokdo in...

Web site on rocky islets gets facelift The province of Gyeongsangbuk-do has given a facelift to its Web site promoting the Korean Peninsulas easternmost islets of Dokdo. Cyber Dokdo, which has featured the islets geographic, social and tourist data since 2001, has added more visual resources, including photos and...

The governmental Geographical Survey Institute has compiled the first 1:25,000-scale topographical map of the Takeshima islets–known as Dokdo in South Korea, which currently controls the disputed territory, it has been learned. The 1:25,000-scale maps that the institute draws are base maps for every other map compiled by public and...

Korea mulls building solar panels, wind generators on Dokdo Korea is considering placing solar panels and wind generators on the islets of Dokdo in the East Sea to provide clean, reusable energy to the countrys easternmost territory, officials said Friday (Jan. 4). Dokdo is a cluster of rocky islets...

The Korean government has decided to use an image of Kim Jeong-ho’s 1861 Korean map, “Daedong Yeojido,” on their new 100,000 won bank notes, but instead of using a true image of the famous map, the government will be adding the island of “Dokdo” (Liancourt Rocks), which did not...

For the first time, people on Dokdo, the cluster of islands in the East Sea, will take part in the nation’s presidential election there. Civilian residents and members of the Coast Guard stationed on Dokdo will be taking part in the Dec. 13 election via absentee ballots, said election...

Intrepid Korea Herald correspondent Frank Smith is cycling around Korea for four weeks bringing local stories to our readers. The former Vancouver bicycle courier will visit more than 20 locations from Seogwipo to Panmunjeom. – Ed. DOKDO, North Gyeongsang Province – Just a bunch of volcanic rocks sticking out...

Dokdo Islands ? land of contention After each visit to the Kuril Islands, journalists of The Vladivostok write about the territorial dispute between Russia and Japan over the four islets which since the end of World War II have prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty. However...

Feature: South Korea bolstering hold over disputed islets Hong Se-heum watched with a mixture of relief and anxiety as hundreds of South Korean tourists waved national flags in sheer joy and posed for photographs as they spilled out onto this tiny islet, which has been the center of a...

Speaking at a meeting he hosted at Cheong Wa Dae for representatives of political parties, President Roh Moo-hyun said the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea, which has functioned as the de-facto sea border between the two Koreas, “was originally a limit line for our naval operations. Some...

The Foreign Ministry Wednesday (Aug. 29) said it has set up a new office to handle territorial disputes, including one involving Japan’s claim to a set of Korean islands in the East Sea. “The new division was established within the Treaties Bureau in line with the government’s efforts to...

The Dokdo Museum, the only museum dedicated to Korea’s easternmost island group Dokdo, marks its 10th anniversary on Wednesday (Aug. 8). To celebrate the anniversary, the museum will hold a forum on civil diplomat Ahn Yong-bok, a defender of Korea’s sovereignty over the East Sea island cluster during the...

SEOUL (Kyodo) The leader of South Korea’s ruling Uri Party made a brief trip Monday to the South Korean-controlled islets also claimed by Japan, according to Yonhap News Agency. “The Dokdo issue is not simply a matter of territory but a matter of history”, Chung Dong Young was quoted...

Dokdo is an isolated island in the eastern reaches of the nation’s territory. It is located 87.4 southeast of Ulleungdo Island. Dokdo Island (180,902m) is formed from a volcanic rock. The island is located at a latitude of 3714′ north and a longitude of 13152′ east. Along with Ulleungdo...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade established a new division in the ministry to deal with Dokdo islets and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the East Sea, which have been a bone of contention between Korea and Japan. The Marine Legal Affairs Division will take charge of...

On Korea’s Dokdo islets, it’s now possible for more than 400 people to use their cellphones at once. This was made possible by two new antennas installed by cellular providers SK Telecom and KTF. Providing stable mobile phone service on the East Sea islets, home to just three year-round...

Popular singer Kim Jang-hoon, 40, will donate 100 million won to the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) to correct the distortion of historical facts. VANK is a non-government organization that seeks to rectify false information about Korea on foreign Web sites. Kim earned the money from his work...

More Koreans are taking their patriotic campaigns into the virtual world as yesterday marked the anniversary of liberation from Japanese colonial rule. The Northeast Asia History Foundation opened on Tuesday a digital archive of the history of Dokdo, the disputed chain of islands in the East Sea (Sea of...

Roh proposal to Abe to call ocean ‘Sea of Peace’ floats no boats here January 08, 2007 President Roh Moo-hyun reportedly told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan in November that he was willing to compromise on the name of the Sea of Japan, as it is known internationally,...

December 17, 2006 The emperor Wendi of the Sui dynasty of ancient China either thought big or was good at bragging. He said, “How can I allow the people of the Jin dynasty to live in despair and pain because of a small river which is like a belt...

Japan archives support Korea’s Dokdo claim A South Korean scholar said yesterday he has found a 19th-century map commissioned by the Japanese cabinet that excludes the contested islets called Dokdo from Japanese territory. Sunwoo Young-jun, the head of the Metropolitan Air Quality Management Office, said yesterday that he found...

A Japanese reconnaissance plane approached South Korea’s de-facto airspace over the East Sea Wednesday but turned back after warnings from the South’s air force, officials said Thursday. The RF-4C plane from Japan’s Self Defense Force came as close as 10 miles to the South’s Korea Air Defense Identification Zone,...

DOKDO – In the first visit by tourists to the Dokdo islands since the rocky outcroppings were reopened last week to the public, more than 60 South Koreans waved national flags and beamed for photographers after landing yesterday on the disputed territory. Poor weather and rough seas had prevented...

China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency on Sunday came out in support of Korean sovereignty over the Dokdo Islets against Japan’s territorial claim, saying Korea’s right was 1,400 years older. “When we look at history, Dokdo has been recorded as Korean territory since 512 A.D., while Japan began considering it...

One of the Dokdo islands will soon open up to tourists, more a symbolic gesture to assert Korea’s sovereignty over the islands than a real attempt to open it up to tourism. Never before have the two small islands in the East Sea been so much in the limelight....

South Korea filed an official protest Wednesday over a Japanese prefecture’s legislation aimed at boosting its claim to a group of disputed islets located in the East Sea (Sea of Japan). South Korea said Thursday it will not tolerate Japan challenging its territorial sovereignty or distorting their shared history,...

March 17, 2005 SEOUL ? If there were doubts about the passion some South Koreans feel over a group of barren islets off their east coast, a 61-year-old grandmother probably erased them when she sliced off her little finger in protest of a Japanese claim of sovereignty over the...

Seoul, South Korea, Mar. 16 (UPI) Throughout this week, a short alley just outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul was packed by demonstrators protesting Tokyo’s claim to South Korean-held islets and Japan’s school textbooks, which whitewash Japan’s brutal colonial rule over Korea. Protestors — from aged women forced to...

Professor says Japanese are eager to learn about relations between the two countries April 06, 2005, Not far from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul where angry protesters set fires and maim themselves over the Dokdo islands controversy, one Korean teacher was addressing it in a more academic manner. In...